Noble House Goals Galore Indoor Hockey Championships…Ol Skool take GCC to school with commanding display

Jul 25, 2013 Sports

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The annual Noble House Goals Galore Indoor Hockey Championships saw its first major upset of the tournament on Tuesday evening as Ol Skool schooled top local men’s side GCC in a 14 – 2 one-sided affair.  Ol Skool, comprising of a number of former national players enjoyed a +6 handicap at the start, while GCC started on +1.
Contrary to the expectation that GCC would close the gap, Ol Skool chalked up three unanswered goals through Stephan Fernandes, Ivor Thompson and Alan Fernandes before GCC could muster their first and only goal of the match in the 10th minute by Orland Semple.  While Ol Skool clearly did not have the pace and conditioning to run with the GCC lads, they used their guile to maximum benefit as Alan Fernandes added three more to take his personal game total to 4 and Philip Fernandes added a double to see out the victory.
The Hikers Under-19 continued their strong run for the title by toppling tournament top seeds the Hikers Generals by 5 – 4.  The Hikers Under-19 side, beginning with a +3 handicap to the Generals +0, were first on the board in the 8th minute through a swift Jamarj Assanah penalty strike.  The Generals led by two goals each from nationals Robert France and Shane Samuels staged a brave comeback but Assanah would have the final say with his second goal of the match just 2 minutes from full time for the 5 – 4 victory.
Old Fort (+3) enjoyed their first senior division win of the tournament with a 9 – 7 victory over Hikers Under-23 (+5).  Old Fort got off to a blistering start as Ascofu Simon slammed home a shot in the opening minute of the match.  Ascofu’s younger brother Aderemi then got into the act with a double while John Abrams scored one and Ascofu his second, all before the Hikers could find the net for the first time.  Travon Younge managed to tally 2 goals for the Hikers in an attempted comeback but Jason DeSantos put an end to this ambition with a final Old Fort goal to leave the score at 9 – 7 for Old Fort.
In the lone ladies fixture, Revelation (+8) managed to chalk up their first competition win against the Hikers Divas (+2) by 10 – 4.  The fast improving Revelation had to survive an onslaught of chances by the Divas but were up to the task each time.  Charlyn Elliott and Romichelle Brummell scored one each for Revelation while the goal scorers for Divas were Maria Munroe and Cora Towler.
In the junior men’s division, GCC (+0) managed to upstage the Recruits (+4) by a final score of 7 – 4.  In a match mostly featuring newcomers to the game, there were hints of talent and the promise of good players in the making as both sides produced hockey beyond their experience.  GCC’s Kareem McKenzie would be the star of the match however with a 4 goal tally for GCC while teammate Mark Sargeant scored a double and Keon McKenzie added one more.
The tournament continues tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday with the three finals scheduled to begin at 5:00PM on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Championships got off to an exciting start in this year’s edition which saw a number of high scoring games in each of the three divisions.
The men’s senior division saw it largest margin of victory go to the Hikers Generals as they took apart Old Fort by 9 – 5.
As the name suggests, teams are given goal handicaps at the beginning of the tournament based on their past performances and so this match began at 0 for Generals and +3 for Old Fort.   Generals’ penalty corner specialist, Shane Samuels, was the top marksman of the evening with 4 goals to his side’s winning cause.  While Old Fort’s Dwayne Allen put his side at +4 ahead with a goal in the second minute of play,
Samuels’ four goals along with a hat-trick from Captain Robert France and one each from Devin Munroe and Colonel Heywood put the game beyond the reach of an overwhelmed Old Fort.
Jason DeSantos managed only one more goal in the second half for Old Fort leaving them on the losing end of a 9 – 5 result.
The Hikers under-19 side kept the club’s winning streak alive with a 7-5 victory over GCC after the teams began the match with +3 for the Hikers-U19 and +1 for GCC.
GCC got off to a swift start with two unanswered goals from Andrew Xavier and Kevin Spencer in the 5th and 10th minute respectively, but the Hikers-U19 rallied with two in a row from junior national Jamarj Assanah to regain the lead.   Spencer managed two more goals for the Bourda boys, but young Hilton Chester and Leon Bacchus kept the 2-goal margin for the Hikers U-19 to end with the 7-5 victory.
Ol Skool, featuring a number of former nationals were the only team to rain on the Hikers parade as Damon Woodroffe and Alan Fernandes each scored a penalty corner on either side of the half to pull off an 8-5 victory as the teams had begun with handicaps of +6 for Ol Skool and +5 for Hikers Under 23.
The lone match of the evening in the ladies competition saw the GCC Tigers come from a 2-goal handicap deficit to outclass the youthful Spartans 4-2.  The Spartans begun with a +2 handicap to the Tigers +0, Gabriella Xavier signalled the intentions of the Tigers with a goal just 3 minutes into the match.  Captain Sonia Jardine, Carol Caine and Ulrica Sutherland each found the back of the net, despite the usual heroic goalkeeping from Alysa Xavier for the Spartans.
The ‘B’ division saw a surprise victory over Saints for the junior Old Fort side which featured a number of new faces to the game.
Beginning on a +1 handicap versus +2 for Saints, Old Fort’s Shaquille Thomas led the scorers with a double, while teammates Omar Hopkinson, Richard Heyliger and Stephen Spostra each netted singles.  Kwesi Lewis managed to pull one goal back for Saints, but it was not enough to avoid the 6-3 victory for Old Fort.

 

 

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